The New Kanto Journey
by Lygatto-Un-Sorceror
Summary: Due to her various responsibilities, Delia delayed her pokémon journey. No more.
1. Delia Sets Out

One day Delia pushed in a number on the inn's vidphone and, when it was picked up, she said, "Ash, honey."

Ash grunted at the second name that she tacked on to the end of his, but said, "Heya mum, what's up?"

"You…wouldn't happen to have any new pokémon…would you?"

"Why? What's brought this on?"

"Well, you know how I've always wanted to go on a pokémon journey of my own, but I've always been too busy with the inn."

"Yeah, what about it?"

'Well, now that I've got Daisy all trained up, I've got the time to go on one."

"Oh?" Ash said, now realising what the call was about. "Wouldn't 'Mimey'," Ash shuddered, "do as a starter?"

"Normally, yes. But Mimey wants to stay here at the inn and help daisy look after the place."

"I see. Well then, in that case you're in luck."

"Really?" Delia perked up, knowing that her son didn't really have the time to go and catch new pokémon like he used to.

"Yeah," Ash said in a sour tone. "When I was at the P-One Gym a couple of weeks ago, Lucario decided to really slut it up, so now I have a bunch of low-level Riolu on my hands, and a headache dealing with Blaziken."

"Really? That's…nice…" Delia said, not quite believing the words coming from her son's mouth.

"It _really_ isn't. Lucario is really hurting at the distance between them. In any case, go over to Professor Oak's Lab and I'll transfer one of them over to you. Alright?"

"Sure thing," Delia said, smiling happily. "Thank you Ash."

"Yeah," Ash said, hanging up his vidphone.

XXXXX

After Ash hung up he sighed and said, "Well, here goes…" and went outside. When he was outside he thought, " _Alright, all of you come out. I don't have time for games right now,"_ communicating with every Riolu, and Lucario. Eventually they all came out from their hiding places and Ash said, "Right," aloud, "my mother wants to go on a journey and would like one of you to be her first pokémon."

One of the Riolu walked forward and communicated, " _Master, why would you ask this of_ us _? Since she's_ your _Lucario, wouldn't that mean that she is weak if she hasn't started as a trainer by now?_ "

"Compared to me? Probably. But the only reason that she hasn't gone on a journey is because she hasn't had the trime, or opportunity, to do so before now. But thank you for volunteering."

" _What?!_ " Riolu communicated, shocked at what he was hearing.

When some of the other Riolu started to point and laugh at the chosen Riolu, Ash communicated, " _You know, the Pokémon League season is starting pretty soon. I could arrange for Nurse Joy to collect some alternative pokémon for the beginner trainers._ " That shut them up _real_ quick.

The 'volunteer' Riolu let out a sigh, thinking, ' _At least_ I _am going to be going with someone that will let me see mother,_ ' the distressed look fading from its face.

As Ash led it inside, he said, "It really won't be that bad you know." Riolu cocked its head at Ash. "I know that you won't get to see your brothers and sisters for a while, but going on a journey with a trainer will let you see and do things that you wouldn't have been able to had you stayed here with me."" Riolu blinked and started to think on what Ash was telling him. That's when they reached 'the vault'. That said, it looked just like every other wall in his Facility. He reached up to a painting on the adjacent wall and pushed a crystal embedded into the frame of the painting of Ho-Oh and the end wall slid to the right, revealing a hidden room. In the room, was an outfit that Riolu had never seen Ash wearing, hanging on a stand with a staff attached to the wall next to it. There were also a number of shelves on the sides of the room. Ash walked to the left side of the room and picked up a strange pokéball that was nothing like Riolu's normal one. The lower half of this one was black and the upper half was royal blue. The line separating the two hemispheres was yellow and the button was red. There were three small spikes spreading out about three millimetres away from the line surrounding the red button. But by far the strangest thing about the ball was the hinge. It was created from a strange blue crystal that, to Riolu, looked exactly the same as the one that Ash had pushed to open 'the vault'. Ash pushed the button, expanding the pokéball, causing the spikes to get bigger, and the gap from the line to the spikes to roughly triple in size as he turned back to Riolu and said, "Here, this is yours."

Riolu communicated, " _It's…mine? But only mother has…_ "

"I've actually got one for every one of you. They just don't really serve much purpose until you evolve. Since you won't be here when that happens, I figure that now's as good a time as any."

" _Thank you master!_ " Riolu communicated before it touched the button of the pokéball.

Ash communicated, " _I thought I told you to cut that 'Master'_ _rubbish out,_ " the pokéball's hinge glowing the same blue as his eyes. Riolu tried to communicate an answer through the pokéball, but was annoyed when it found that it couldn't communicate through the ball. Ash released it and started to get berated for doing something so cruel. Ash waved his hands in front of him, saying, "Whoa whoa whoa. Calm _down_!" Riolu stopped its screaming into Ash's mind. "Apparently I need to explain something." Riolu cocked its head. "The way you and I communicate through aura is only doable at the moment because I am completely opening myself up to you and using my own aura to…amplify…your voice in my head."

" _Eh? But…you and mother…"_

 _"That's different. When you evolve into Lucario, your aura abilities magnify to a truly astounding degree, allowing you easier access to abilities like mental communication. The crystal used in the pokéball's hinges will actually serve to allow you to sense what is going on outside your pokéball and…also some other things,"_ Ash finished communicating as they reached the transfer room.

" _What things?_ "

Ash smiled and said, "If you haven't figured it out by the time you next come here, I'll tell you. Until then…" Ash paused as he turned to Riolu. "…Riolu return!" pointing the Aura Ball at Riolu, which shot a blue beam that sucked Riolu into it. Ash communicated, " _Sorry Riolu, but time's up,_ " to Riolu through the pokéball, which served to calm the agitated Pokémon.

XXXXX

Half an hour after she had hung up the phone, Delia was holding Riolu's pokéball in her hand and rotating it. She said, "Professor…this pokéball…do you know why it's…"

"No," Professor Oak said, scratching the back of his head. "When I first got it, I _did_ ask him about it, but he was really very vague about it. I was actually about to call a friend of mine in the Johto Region about it. I could do it now if you want?"

"No. If Ash wanted us to know, he would have told you when you asked."

"I see. If you say so Delia," Professor Oak said as he thought, ' _IF its got anything to do with something dangerous, no matter how well-intentioned Ash leaving us in the dark is_ I _at least need to know, so I'll call Kurt after Delia has gone._ '

Delia though, saw the look on the Professor's face and sighed. She said, "If you are going to make the call anyway, you might as well make it while I'm here."

Professor Oak sighed and said, "Very well Delia," and moved to the vidphone attached to the transfer system before dialling Kurt's number. When the vidphone was answered, Professor Oak saw a teenage girl with her auburn hair in a high, wavy, ponytail. He said, "Hello, you're Maizie, aren't you? You sure have grown since the last time I saw you."

"Yeah, well it _was_ four years ago now."

"Has it really been that long already?"

"Yeah. So, what do you want? Another custom job?"

"Actually, I would like to talk to Kurt if he's available."

"Sorry, Gramps is in the workshop right now. Maybe _I_ could help you?"

"Well, I suppose that it's worth a shot," Professor Oak said, extending his hand to Delia for the pokéball. When she'd handed it over, he held it up to the screen and said, "What can you tell us about this pokéball?"

Maizie squinted at the screen, scrutinising the pakeball and thought, ' _That's that Aura Ball thingy that Ash asked me to make for him! He wanted them kept secret. Telling_ these _two about it now would…_ ' she sighed and said, "Sorry, I've never seen anything like it before."

"I see. I'll call back later, when your grandfather isn't busy anymore."

"Sure thing," Maizie said and pressed a button next to the screen, ending the call. As soon as the screen was black, she punched in another number and pressed, 'Call'.

Back in the Professor's lab, Professor Oak sighed and said, "Well, that's that Delia. I'll try again tomorrow. Are you leaving now, or…"

"I think that it's a bit too late now, don't you Sam?"

Professor Oak sighed and said, "You might be right," only now realising that he had missed lunch by two and a half hours.

XXXXX

The next day, at seven in the morning, Professor Oak called Kurt again, and this time got the man himself, though he seemed to be in the middle of stuffing his face. Kurt said, "Sam! It's been a while. What can I do you for? You don't have another strange pokéball for me do you?" laughing as he talked.

"As a matter of fact, yes."

" _Seriously!?_ " Kurt said, half inclined to hang up, remembering all that hoohah that the GS Ball had unleashed with that evil Celebi.

"Yes. Don't worry though, this one doesn't have a cursed legendary pokémon in it."

Kurt let out a sigh of relief and said, "So, what is it then?"

"Well, I'm afraid that I only have some photos of it now, will that do?"

"I won't be able to tell everything about it without it being in my hands, but I'll do what I can."

"Thank you," Professor Oak said, getting the photos that he had taken off of his desk. He held them up to the screen and changed them out whenever Kurt asked him to.

Kurt hmm'd and ahh'd for a while before he said, "Give me some time to look into something and I'l get back to you."

"Did you see something that you recognised?"

"Maybe. But like I said, I need to look into it before I know for certain. Just don't get your hopes up too much."

"Alright," Professor Oak said, "and thank you," hanging up.

When the screen was dark, Kurt said in a loud voice, "Mai _ziee_!"

"Yeah, what is it Gramps?" Maizie called from the kitchen. She gulped when she saw the look on her grandfather's face as he came back into the kitchen/dining room.

"I may be old Maizie, but I can still tell your works when I see them."

Maizie sighed and said, "It's about the Aura Ball, isn't it?"

"The _Aura_ Ball? What the hell is an Aura Ball?"

Maizie sighed again. "Ash came to me with an order for some time ago and brought with him all the ingredients to make him a unique pokéball. Even _I'm_ not sure why he wanted it, or what it can do, but he recently came back to me with an order for more."

"So, _that's_ why you were in the workshop for so long."

"Yeah."

"If you knew all of that, then why didn't you tell Sam yesterday?"

"Ash swore me to secrecy. I don't know why, but I figured that it must be important, or dangerous, enough that he didn't want his friends and family involved. That being the case, why _would_ I tell them?"

"I see," Kurt said, closing his eyes, considering his granddaughter's words. Eventually he sighed and said, "I take it that you kept a record of the design then?"

"Of course," Maizie said, as if it were the most basic thing in the world. Which, to both her and her grandfather, it was.

Kurt said, "Can you show them to me?"

"I guess," Maizie shrugged, "now that the Meowth is out of the bag." She then went up to her room and got out her design journal.

When she'd handed it over to him, Kurt read through the notes and studied the diagrams and said, "This is…" then he looked up at her and said, "How did you come up with a design like this Maizie?"

"Honestly?" Kurt nodded. "Ash and I hammered it out together. Why?"

"Because, it looks juyst like that GS Ball that I had to make for that Masked Imbecile after the Celebi Incident."

" _Seri_ ously?!" Maizie exclaimed.

"Yes. That said, the only truly abnormal thing about _this_ is this crystalline substance that you include. Well, alongside with using multiple types of apricorn," Kurt glared at Maizie.

"Hey!" Maizie exclaimed, holding her hands up between them. "I said much the same to Ash as we designed the thing. I also told him that using a hodge-podge collection of apricorn like that would end up with the effects clashing against each other as they vied for supremacy, but he didn't care."

"He didn't…" Kurt trailed off. "In that case, maybe the purpose of the apricorns was purely aesthetical, and the real reason that he came to _us"_ Kurt pointedly said, "was to include the crystal in the pokéball."

"I suppose," Maizie said, shrugging one shoulder.

"You called it an Aura Ball, didn't you?"

"Yeah. That's what Ash called it, why?"

"I remember reading about certain Pokémon that had the ability to use something along those lines. That might also have something to do with the mixed medley of apricorn that Ash had you using."

"Maybe. But like I said, it's probably better to just leave things alone. If Ash ever wants them to know, then he will tell them himself.

Kurt sighed and pushed himself up from the table and went back to the vidphone and called Professor Oak, who said, "Kurt! You're calling me already?"

"Yes."

"So…"

"Apparently my granddaughter made them for Ash, but even she doesn't know why, or what they do. As far as I can guess without having it in front of me, and running some tests, they are for holding Pokémon that can use something called aura, if the name's anything to go by. As to why he made them, or what for, I've no idea. Sorry."

"No. it's fine. Thanks for the help."

"No problem. Next time you're in Johto, why don't you stop by. Azalea isn't that far from Goldenrod after all."

"Sure thing, I'd like that," Professor Oak said, bidding Kurt farewell before hanging up. After the screen turned black, Professor Oak thought, ' _Sorry Delia, I guess I couldn't learn anything useful aabout it other than it seems that Ash had it made specifically for Riolu.'_ He let out a sigh before an idea sprung into his head and said, "Well, I suppose that its not _completely_ unrelated to Pokémon," and pulled out his keyboard and opened up a word processor and typed in 'Aura' in the centre of the first page. Below the heading was 'Version…1' and 'Researcher(s)…Professor Oak  & Tracey Sketchitt', in smaller text, though still far larger than normal.

After that he skipped down to the next page and startted typing in a list of headings, including: 'What is Aura', 'Aura Sensitive Pokémon', 'Aura in History', 'Aura in the Modern Day', 'Links to the Ketchum Family' and a couple of others. When he was done, he called out, "Tracey! We've got a new line of research!"

"Really Professor?" Tracey asked, coming into Professor Oak's office. "What is it? Is it about the prevalence of regional variation?"

"No no. it's nothing like that," Professor Oak said as Tracey came over to him.

When he was close enough, Tracey read through the table of contents and said aloud, "…Links to the Ketchum Family and Aura & Technologe? Is this about that pokéball that Ash sent that Riolu here in?"

"That's right."

"If he didn't tell _us_ anything about it, then there should be no reason to be concerned about it, should there?"

"No, and I'm not. I only included 'Links to the Ketchum Family' because Ash and Delia are the ones that gave me the idea to do this in the first place. Besides, it can't hurt to provide them with a bit of their family history, can it?"

"I suppose not," Tracey said, still not completely certain that he wanted to held the Professor in _this_ endeavour.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, Ash was thinking, 'Should _I have sent riollu to them in that Aura Ball? Knowing Professor Oak's curiosity, maybe I_ should _have waited and then given it to mum after it evolved. Although…if he_ does _do some reseach, it will be interesting to find out what he discavers, and how accurate his discoveries will be.'_


	2. The Journey Begins

Delia crossed her arms as she leant against the ship's railing. She looked to her right and said, "Well Riolu, what do you think?"

Riolu let out a series of sounds, which Delia translated to mean, "I don't know yet. Master(?) said that I would see new things that I couldn't with him. But, so far, it's just been more trees, houses and a bigger lake."

Delia smiled and said, "I don't know what you mean by 'master', but _this_ ," Delia waved her arm off of the ship, " _isn't_ a lake. It's the South Kanto Sea. It's far bigger than the lake that is outside Ash's Battle Facility. If you keep on going out _that_ way," pointing over the side of the ship, "then you'll eventually reach the Hoenn Region, and _that_ is even bigger than Kanto." Riolu looked outward in wonderment.

That was when a kid came rushing up to them and eagerly said, "Hey, pretty lady, that's a Riolu, isn't it?"

"That's right," Delia said, not sure what to make of the young teen, happy to be complimented on her looks, but unsure exactly why a seventeen year old would be doing so.

"I'll battle you for it."

"Ex _cuse_ me?!" Delia said, beyond shocked that _anyone_ would suggest such a thing, let alone someone so young.

"It's simple. We battle and, if I win, you give me Riolu clean and clear. If you win, you get to keep it."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Delia said as Riolu looked on in fear. "I just received Riolu from my son. There's no _way_ that I'd ever trade it, let alone use any Pokémon as a wager for some stupid bet!"

"Too bad! I challenged you to a battle, so you _have_ to accept."

" _No._ I don't. just watch me," Delia stated, turning back to look out to sea.

The kid scowled and thought, ' _Damn! That's always worked so far! It would appear that a different tack._ ' He then went back to the room that he was sharing with Evelyn.

When he was there, he reached down and ripped his disguise off, revealing a man in his early twenties wearing a pait of black pants and a black jacket with a big red 'R' dead centre. He had his red hair done up in spikes pointing skyward, with little hair on the sides or back of his head. Evelyn said, "What's wrong Cam'?" seeing the look on his face.

Cameron said, "I found a woman with a Riolu and I couldn't drag her into a battle for it."

"Oh? Why's that? Normally there isn't a problem."

"She 'claimed' that she just got it from her kid."

"You think she's lying then?"

"She's gotta be. She looks like she's in her mid-thirties, so any brat of _hers_ , can't be more than eight or nine. Even if that's _not_ the case, how many newbie trainers have a Pokémon as rare as a Riolu or Lucario."

Evelyn sighed and said, "You're probably right, although…"

"Although…?"

"It _is_ possible to have a brat even as young as thirteen."

"She didn't seem the type."

"I see…" Evelyn sighed. She said, "In that case, we can always just wait for a chance to do it the old fashioned way."

"We may not have any choice."

"In any case, it's probably an idea for you to lay low so a while."

Cameron sighed and said, "You're probably right."

"Don't worry about it. I'll go out and see what _I_ can snag."

"Sure thing," Cameron said, shrugging in a noncommittal fashion.

While Evelyn was out, she tried offloading some of the pokémon that they had 'won' off of the beginner trainers on shore, but was equally unsuccessful. When it came down to it, most of the trainers on the ship had pokémon _far_ stronger than what was in the offing, like Caterpie, Weedle, Sandshrew… The ones that didn't, disdained trying to buy a pokémon in favour of finding and capturing it themselves, even when it came to a 'Dratini', which, in reality, was an Ekans with a makeover. Eve returned to her room, annoyed that both she and her partner had failed for what felt like the first time. It wasn't. they had previously tried to steal pokémon from the Pewter City Gym using ground type pokémon, but they had been blasted all the way to Pallet Town, courtesy of Kabutops, Swampert and Ludicolo's Hydro Pump.

Twenty minutes later they arrived on the Seafoam Islands and Delia disembarked, unknowingly being followed by Evelyn and Cameron. When she was off of the boat she turned to Riolu and said, "So, what do you want to check out first? The museum? The beach? The…" Delia saw Riolu cock its head and said, "Oh. I suppose that you don't know what they are, do you?" Riolu shook its head. Delia said, "Well…" looking up at the clouds gathering in the sky. "Well, I suppose the beach is out, so the museum it is." When she looked up to see where she was going on her way to the museum, and saw a shock of hair that she still recognised after not seen it for almost fifteen years. She said, " _Sliver Ketchum_!" in an angry tone.

The man that Delia was calling out to thought, ' _Delia? No way. It can't be. She should still be in Pallet Town with Ash._ ' He released Salamence and took off, headed towards Metallica Island.

Delia just watched him fly off, clenching her fist as she clenched her eyes shut. She let out a scream so that her roiling emotions didn't get the best of her. She felt Riolu tugging on her skirt and saw the sympathetic look on its face. She smiled down at it and said, "Don't worry about it. I've been dealing with his absence for years now, so I'll be fine. A bit angry for a while, sure, but I'll be fine, really." Riolu looked at her for a while, doubting her wordss, but feeling the confidence emanating from them told him that she believed what she was saying, so it let out a sigh as it followed Delia on her way to the museum.

When they were inside, after paying an extra P200 for Riolu, they saw a triptych. The first painting had a scene of total destruction, buildings destroyed and burning with a bird flying overhead. The second had a mass of people kneeling in front of a large tower that the bird was perching on top of, two figures standing before it, about to be consumed by flames streaming from the bird's mouth. The final picture depicted three people standing near a mountain with a moon shining above it. The figure on the left was holding a staff with some kind of staff with a blue crystal attached to the top. The central figure was wearing a crown and the third had some kind of wavy lines emanating from its head as they held their arms to the sky. Inside a massive orb, resting on top of the mountain, there was an image of the same bird from the previous two pictures. Delia looked down at the name of the works and read "The Three Saviours." She looked over at Riolu and said, "It's a rather dark subject for something called 'The Three Saviours', don't you think?"

But Riolu was fascinated by the final image, specifically the figure with the staff, having seen something similar in 'the vault' at Ash's battle facility, and having seen him fighting his mother with a similar, but plainer, staff when she was using Bone Rush.

Delia thought, ' _Well, coming here was worth it if Riolu here found some interest in this image of ironies._ ' She said, "Well Riolu, we'd best get moving on." Riolu nodded and followed Delia from the room. As it was about to leave though, it took one last look back and saw a faint blue glow coming from the top of the staff.

Delia and Riolu made their way through the gallery, not seeing anything else that really piqued their interest, so they left, through the little souvenir shop at the end of the exhibit centre and Delia bought a strange blue stone that glowed when her hand ghosted over it. They wandered about for the rest of the day and, to Delia's surprise and, when they saw a sign leading to the Seafoam Island Pokémon Gym, Riolu started pointing at it excitedly. When Delia saw the sign she looked down at Riolu with a sympathetic look on her face as she said, "Sorry, but we can't."

"Rio!?"

Delia said, "To compete against the Gym on this island I need at least three pokémon and, even if I did, while I have no doubt that we would both try our hardest, I'm nowhere near experienced enough, and you are far from strong enough to compete on anything remotely resembling a comparable level to the gym leader."

"Ri ol," Riolu dejectedly said, hanging its head.

"I know. But we can come back later if you want," Delia soothingly said.

"Ri ri!" Riolu eagerly said, nodding vigorously.

Delia blinked as, all of a sudden, the light just dimmed. She looked down at her watch and almost took a step back, surprised that it had gotten so late. She said, "We'd best get back to the Pokécentre, or we might get locked out." Riolu nodded and they quickly headed back to the Pokécentre. When they were there, Delia forewent going to the cafeteria, it being five o'clock there would plenty of time till it shut for the night. She instead went to the vidphone setup and called Professor Oak. When he picked up, Delia said, "Hello Sam."

"Delia?!" Professor Oak exclaimed. "What can I do for you?"

"You can tell me if you found anything out about that pokéball."

"Not much I'm afraid. All I could really find out is that Ash had them custom made for him by my friend's granddaughter, and that it was probably so that he could include some kind of crystal in it. That said, Kurt told me that he couldn't know anything for sure without having it with him in person."

"I see. Well, if that's all you could find out, it's fine then," Delia said, smiling. "Well, I'll call you again late…oh! By the way, I'm pretty sure that I saw Silver today too."

"You saw… Are you sure that it was him? I mean, it _has_ been nearly twenty years now Delia."

"I _know_ who I married Sam. It was _him_. What I _don't_ understand is why, when I called out to him, the first thing he did was fly off on the back of his Salamance."

"He…well…where was he headed towards?"

"I think that it was towards Metallica Island, why?"

" _Metallica_ Island? Isn't that where one of the Facilities of the Battle Frontier is?"

"I don't know. Ash told me that when he joined them, there were a few other Frontier Brains joining at the same time, to completely separate the Kanto and Hoenn Frontiers."

"Well, if you want, I can call Scott and ask him about it?"

"Sure. Thanks Sam," Delia said, well aware that there was a far more direct path to gaining an answer, but not wanting to bring up bad memories for her son whilst the Frontier Season was ongoing. Delia then hung up.

Tracey came in as Delia hung up, hearing the tail end of the conversation. He said, "You didn't tell her about the research we're doing."

"Yes, well, unless we find out anything, there I don't think that there is much point in telling her. It could just end up causing her to feel some false hope."

"I see," Tracey said, sitting down and picking up the book that he'd been reading.

XXXXX

After she'd hung up, Delia called Ash. When he'd picked up his vidphone he said, "Mum?"

"Yes dear," Delia replied. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, bu-ut…"

"I'm just calling to say 'hi', and that I reached the Seafoam Islands. In record tome I might add."

"Seafoam? Why are you there? I thought that you'd head to viridian first, now that it's geared to however many badges you have."

"I would have, but I wanted to have a bit of a break first."

"I see. It _has_ been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yes. A bit too long if you ask Masae."

"If it did _that_ , then I wouldn't be able to shut her up for an hour."

"Well, that's true," Delia helplessly said. "She _does_ have the gift of the gab. A good thing for a raidio career, but I headache for anyone dealing with her in any other situation."

"Very true," Ash said, having had to deal with the town gossip one time too many. It was an open secret in Pallet Town that even one time with Masae was one time too many.

"Hey, if you're in the Seafoam Islands _now_ , why don't you swing over to Ochre Isle?"

"Ochre Isle? Why?"

"I heard about a tournament that is being held there and only unevolved pokémon can enter it."

"I might just do that. Thanks Ash."

That's when Riolu started talking, telling Ash about the triptych that they saw. Ash frowned when Riolu told him about the figure with a staff. Delia saw Ash's eyes glow blue, but that was all as he communicated to Riolu, _"What's this about a staff Riolu?"_

 _"It was like that one that I saw in that hidden room, though it_ was _a bit different."_

 _"Okay, did anything else strike you as odd about it?"_

 _"Yes. The staff glowed when I looked at it as I was about to leave the room."_

"Hmm…" Ash said, closing his eyes as he thought on what he'd just been told. Eventually he decided to swing by the Seafoam Islands himself when he had time, which wouldn't be for a while as Scott had him booked out for nigh on three weeks. Ash opened his eyes and said, "So, whatr'd Professor Oak do when I sent you Riolu?"

"We were both really curious about that ball that you sent Riolu to me in."

"What did you want to know?"

"What it is, or does? Or even why you gave it to me."

"I see. Well, long story short, it will help Lucario when Riolu evolves."

"That's all?"

"Pretty much," Ash shrugged.

" _How_?"

"I want to let Riolu figure _that_ one out on its own."

"Fair enough I suppose," Delia said, "but what if he can't?"

Riolu glared up at Delia, causing Ash to smile, thinking back on how Pikachu acted when he first got him. He said, "Have faith in him. I do."

"Sometimes faith isn't enough Ash. I thought that being a Frontier Brain would have taught you _that_ at least."

"I _know_ Mum. That's why I told Riolu that I would teach it if it couldn't do it itself. That said, that will only be a last resort."

"Okay Ash," Delia said, smiling at the thought that Ash _hadn't_ forgone everything that he stood for, as she had dinner. She said, "Well, I need to have dinner now, so…see you later Ash."

"Yeah, bye Mum," Ash said, hanging up his vidphone.

Once her screen had turned black, Delia hung up the phone and looked down at Riolu. She said, "So, do _you_ know why Ash's eyes were glowing just now?" Riolu mimed whistling while looking everywhere but at Delia. Delia sighed and said, "I don't suppose you'll tell me exactly what you know about that pokéball either?" Riolu nodded. Delia sighed and said, "Well, in any case, how does that tournament sound to you?" Riolu nodded eagerly and Delia jokingly said, "I'll take that as a yes."

Even as Delia said that, she thought, ' _Although…,if I want to really stand a chance, Riolu is going to need a sparring partner._ '

It took Delia two days to reach Ochre Isle, which was lucky, because the tournament started on the third. Unfortunately, Delia had been on boats almost the entire time, so hadn't had the chance to catch another pokémon, or even train Riolu at all in fact. She _did_ take the time though to get to know it more, so she counted that as a good thing. When she went to check out the place the tournament was bieng held at, The Daemon Institute, she tried to register, but was told that it was done on the day, starting two hours before the start of the tournament. Delia told the clerk that she was talking with that she would do so and went to the Pokécentre for the night.

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A/N

Evelyn Cameron was a photographer that recorded the life and times of cowboys and cowgirls during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.


End file.
